Football fan creates Hartlepool’s Victoria Park in Lego

A FOOTBALL fan has given Pools’ Victoria Park a new look– by creating the club’s ground entirely out of Lego.

Football supporter Chris Smith set up company Brickstand last year and plans to build all 92 English Football League grounds with the toy bricks.

After receiving a request from a Pools follower to make Victoria Park his next project, the Crystal Palace fan set about bringing the famous stadium to life with Lego.

It took him less than a week to complete, although it could take him some time yet to reach his overall goal of creating all the country’s grounds.

Mr Smith, 32, said: “The aim is to build all of the 92 Football League grounds out of Lego, and Victoria Park has taken me to 18 so far.

“If I carry on at the same rate, it should take about another three years to complete them all.

“I got an email from someone who wanted me to do Hartlepool’s ground.

“All of the grounds are commissioned, really, so the order I do them in depends on whether I have someone to buy it.

“It’s always best to build the stadium and get it moved on quickly, because my girlfriend is not too happy eating her dinner around football stadiums.

“It took about a week to build the Lego version of Victoria Park, and it was quite easy with the colours, although the old stand with the orange and green faded seats was challenging.”

Among the grounds Mr Smith had already designed are Anfield, Goodison Park and White Hart Lane, and his version of Victoria Park has drawn praise.

Mr Smith, from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, added: “It seems to have gone down well, and the club itself retweeted it on Twitter.

“The guy that commissioned it was happy as well, which is the main thing.

“The idea is not to make a perfect replica, but to produce something that looks good and is a reasonable approximation of the stadium.

“Once a stadium has been built once, it is quite easy for me to replicate it, so if anyone else wants to buy a Lego version of Victoria Park, all they need to do is get in touch, and they should get it within three weeks.”

The Lego version of Victoria Park costs £259.99 and is measured at around 50x50x13cm.